Scientist III

Duration: 18 Months

Job description:

Summary:

The Organic Chemist / Scientist will play a critical role in the Fatty Acid project by developing, optimizing, scaling, and documenting synthetic and purification processes for priority lipid and fatty-acid-related raw materials used to support cell-culture media production. The role will focus initially on fatty acids and lipids and fatty acids and lipids, with potential expansion to other priority materials. The scientist will apply strong multi-step organic synthesis, lipid chemistry, purification, and analytical characterization skills to establish robust processes that meet internal raw-material specifications and are suitable for scale-up and transfer to manufacturing.

• Design, plan, and independently execute laboratory experiments for synthesis and process development of fatty acids, glycerides, phospholipids, and related lipid molecules.
• Develop and optimize synthetic routes for priority materials, including fatty acids and lipids, with emphasis on yield, purity, reproducibility, scalability, and raw-material availability.
• Develop and optimize purification strategies for intermediates and final products using normal-phase and reverse-phase chromatography, preparative HPLC/flash chromatography, crystallization, extraction, precipitation, and other appropriate techniques.
• Characterize starting materials, intermediates, impurities, and final products using HPLC, LC-MS/MS or MS, NMR, FT-IR, UV/VIS, ELSD/CAD, and other applicable analytical techniques.
• Investigate impurity profiles and troubleshoot synthesis, purification, stability, and recovery issues that could prevent materials from meeting internal specifications.
• Perform feasibility studies using lower-purity or alternate-source starting materials and define process conditions required to achieve target product quality.
• Support scale-up from laboratory development to gram/hundreds-of-gram scale and develop processes suitable for transfer to Rockford manufacturing operations.
• Partner with Analytical Development to establish or refine purity and identity methods and ensure analytical methods are fit for process-development decisions.
• Support preparation of material for internal evaluation, packaging/formulation activities, process validation, and manufacturing transfer as required by the project.
• Write experimental protocols, development reports, batch/process instructions, technical summaries, and documentation supporting testing, validation, and production.
• Maintain complete and accurate laboratory records and ensure traceability of experimental conditions, calculations, raw data, observations, deviations, and conclusions.
• Work cross-functionally with R&D, Analytical, Operations, Quality, Procurement/Sourcing, and project-management teams; communicate technical results, risks, recommendations, and project status to stakeholders.
• Adhere to departmental quality systems, chemical hygiene, EHS requirements, and safe laboratory practices.

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Chemical Sciences, or a closely related scientific discipline;
  Bachelor's degree with substantial directly relevant industrial synthetic chemistry experience may also be considered.
• Strong hands‑on experience in organic synthesis, reaction optimization, and multi‑step synthesis.
• Demonstrated experience with purification of complex organic molecules using chromatography and other preparative purification techniques.
• Hands‑on experience interpreting HPLC, LC-MS/MS or MS, NMR, and FT-IR data for reaction monitoring, identity confirmation, purity assessment, and impurity troubleshooting.
• Ability to independently troubleshoot reactions and purification…